Strategic Commissioning was an England-wide cultural learning programme to benefit children and young people in schools and outside of formal education. It was funded 2009-11 by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Education (DfE), and managed by the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA).¹

Strategic Commissioning aimed to build capacity within museums, archives and galleries to develop and deliver learning activities, build sustainable partnerships with schools, initial teacher training providers and local authorities, and position the cultural sector within local and regional education and learning infrastructures.

Strategic Commissioning continued funded development work which began in 2004 in response to the two phases of the Museums and Galleries Education Programme (MGEP 1 & 2), which were devised to provide an evidence-base and good practice guidelines for cultural education.²

Between 2009 and 2011 MLA delivered two national strands of activity: an education development programme in partnership with national museums and a workforce skills development programme. The national programmes were complemented by regional-specific projects and CPD which supported local priorities and focused on areas such as 14-19 diplomas, secondary curriculum, family learning, special educational needs and extended services.

The Strategic Commissioning programme closed in March 2011. From October 2011 responsibility for museums currently undertaken by MLA will transfer to Arts Council England (ACE). This document is to summarise the MLA strands of Strategic Commissioning and point to available reports and resources.

See overleaf for details of individual Strategic Commissioning programme strands.

See also: Strategic Commissioning web pages on MLA website http://www.mla.gov.uk/what/programmes/commissioning

MLA good practice case studies database http://research.mla.gov.uk/case-studies/

¹ In addition to the areas managed by MLA, Strategic Commissioning funding was also given direct to the National Museums and to the National Association for Gallery Education (engage).

² See The impact of the DfES Museums and Galleries Education Programme, 2002, Research Centre for Museums and Galleries, University of Leicester and The Impact Of Phase 2 Of The Museums And Galleries Education Programme, 2004, Centre for Education and Industry, University of Warwick, both available online. Strategic Commissioning Education Development Programme Strategic Commissioning 2009-11 worked in partnership with The National Gallery, The British Library, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum to develop exemplary and sustainable cultural learning programmes that stimulate and challenge children and young people through museum and archive collections.

Take One ... encourages museums, archives and schools to work together to use collections as a springboard to develop skills and understanding across the curriculum.

- Take One... develops The National Gallery's celebrated Take One Picture programme for museum and archive collections across the country;
- The model takes a single object, picture, document or site and uses it as a rich resource for learning across the curriculum;
- Regional Take One Champion museums and archives support delivery of the programme through CPD and running Take One projects with schools;
- For a list of Champions and case studies visit: http://www.mla.gov.uk/what/programmes/commissioning/take_one

Campaign! Make an Impact is a history and active citizenship learning programme in partnership with The British Library.

- CMAI uses collections and historic campaigns (such as the abolition of slavery or women’s suffrage) to promote understanding of the past;
- Young people then develop a campaign about a local issue important to them;
- Aimed at key stages 3 and 4, it is also applicable to the upper years of key stage 2;
- Regional Campaign Champion museums and archives support delivery of CMAI: http://www.bl.uk/learning/citizenship/campaign/teachers/find/findpartner.html
- Teachers’ resources: http://www.bl.uk/learning/citizenship/campaign/teachers/how/howtorun.html
- Find out more: www.mla.gov.uk/what/programmes/commissioning/Campaign

Science in your World was a national partnership between MLA, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum to enable museums and archives across England to create science learning opportunities for schools and families.

- Regional networks focus on skills sharing, CPD and resource development to support science in the primary and secondary curriculum;

- Networks in the North East, North West, Yorkshire, West Midlands and London;

- New resources and activities were developed to provide opportunities to discover the science behind collections, to meet scientists and engineers, and to put school science in a real world context, enriching the curriculum in and out of school hours;

- Find out more www.mla.gov.uk/what/programmes/commissioning/Science_In_Your-World Design for Life is a national initiative led by the Victoria and Albert Museum in partnership with regional museums and galleries and the charity, Action for Children.

- DfL seeks to engage young people in design by working alongside professional designers and being inspired by museum collections;

- The project was devised by the V&A in response to the Design Council’s report High Level Skills for Higher Value, which highlighted the importance of boosting young people’s creativity and design skills in order to develop their talents and to maintain the strength of the UK design sector;

- During 2010-11 Design for Life worked with MLA to produce learning resources for schools and teachers [http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/d/design-for-life/](http://www.vam.ac.uk/page/d/design-for-life/)

Strategic Commissioning Workforce Skills Development Programme

The Strategic Commissioning Workforce Skills Development Programme provided funded opportunities for museum and archive staff, teachers, trainee teachers and children’s workforce professionals. It was made up of five strands of work underpinned by the following shared values:

- Co-learning - All participants have something to share and something to learn; we learn through and with each other;
- External expertise - Bringing cultural heritage together with education, local authority and specialist organisations working with children and young people;
- Empowering - Achieving sustainability by empowering participants, supporting them to take control of their own learning and to develop their own projects.

The Initial Teacher Training grants programme built learning partnerships between museums, archives and ITT providers such as universities and colleges.

- Trainee teachers experienced tailored placements within cultural heritage settings, ranging from a couple of days to work embedded across the academic year;
- The trainees created new approaches to the museum and archive collections and shared their skills and enthusiasm with the cultural heritage staff;
- For further information and case studies see: [http://www.mla.gov.uk/what/programmes/commissioning/Initial_Teacher_Training](http://www.mla.gov.uk/what/programmes/commissioning/Initial_Teacher_Training)

The ITT programme worked closely with Teaching Outside the Classroom a partnership between MLA, Creativity, Culture and Education (CCE), the Council for Learning Outside of the Classroom (CLOTC) and the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA).

- Teaching Outside the Classroom supports the development of placements for trainee teachers in settings other than schools;

- The website helps to set up and evaluate placements and provides case studies of existing good practice;

- From July 2011 Creativity, Culture and Education is lead partner for TOTC;

- Find out more [http://www.teachingoutsidetheclassroom.com/](http://www.teachingoutsidetheclassroom.com/) Learning Links was a professional development placement programme for museum and archive staff, teachers and other educators who work with children and young people as part of the wider children's and young people's workforce.

- Created effective partnerships with museums and archives, which had a positive impact on teaching practice, engagement and attainment of children and young people and can support school development plans;

- Learning Links provided the opportunity to initiate, build and sustain learning partnerships through experiencing each other's working environment and practice;

- The Learning Links model, case studies and resources are available on http://www.mla.gov.uk/what/programmes/commissioning/Learning_Links_2009-11

Watch This Space, managed by engage, was a parallel programme to Learning Links.

- WTS enabled teachers, artists and gallery educators in England to gain first-hand experience of each other's work;
- Participants were able to initiate, build and sustain relationships that introduced school students to contemporary art in galleries;
- WTS also offered CPD for teachers, gallery educators and artists;
- For further information, case studies and resources see: http://www.engage.org/watchthisspace/index.aspx

The Continuing Professional Development programme provided opportunities to gain further skills, knowledge and experience to enable the cultural sector to deliver quality programmes for children and young people.

Resources produced include:

- Commissioning for Changing Times training pack
- MLA Self Assessment Framework
- Inspiring Learning for All (ILFA) resources (see also Inspiring Learning)
- Leadership Development
- Find out more at www.mla.gov.uk/what/programmes/commissioning/CPD

An evaluation of the Continuing Professional Development programme was commissioned from Burns Owens Partnership. Please see: http://www.mla.gov.uk/what/programmes/commissioning/~/media/Files/pdf/2011/strat_comm/Strat_Comm_WSDP_Final_Report_Exec_Summary

Strategic Commissioning information sheet updated 22 September 2011 Kirsten Gibbs, Strategic Commissioning Programme Manager, kirsten.gibbs@mla.gov.uk Contact from 1 October 2011 Kirsten.Gibbs@artscouncil.org.uk